We had an enjoyable Grand Philharmonic Choir annual dinner last evening. However, there has to some kind of better after-dinner activity for a bunch of mildly-inebriated musicians than the sort of “Name That Random No. 1 Hit” type of trivia contest that hundreds of millions of non-musicians also enjoy and at which they undoubtedly do just as well.

How about actually performing some songs? (Duh!) Start with a fake book and a piano, and give out prizes for people who remember and/or figure out suitable introductions, best approximate synth patterns, vocally replicate riffs and guitar solos, add bass lines, bang out some drum fills on a table, get the vocal harmonies right, and so on.

I would REALLY prefer to engage with more than the first three seconds of each song! I can play “Name That Tune” whenever I want with my own iTunes library and with tens of thousands of songs—as opposed to a handful of former top pop hits. Musicians should certainly be able to deal with things other than “lowest common denominators.”